This month I am cheating a little bit and posting my recent appearance on Aaron’s monthly Patreon bonus podcast as my bonus podcast. Rest assured you will not be disappointed.
Pearse Redmond returns to the bonus podcast. Here, he and Aaron talk about how popular it is to market your independent media to the right wing crowd. The far-right is now indistinguishable from the mainstream right, and so it is that online media is now experiencing a boom as their audience grows. These new rising stars are using the same old tricks that all media manipulators have used, which is mainly to create content that fits into the accepted narrative that their audience craves.
Pearse Redmond joins Themes & Memes as a return guest. The Covid19 quarantine classic, Tiger King documentary, is the topic of discussion. A variety of issues such as high control groups, media analysis, and politics are discussed on this different kind of review.
Uncle welcomes Spike Robinson and Pearse Redmond to the broadcast. They are both cohosts of the Undue Influence In Popular Culture podcast series. Here, the conversation runs the gamut from the truth about magazine crews to the utility of a good spaghetti mop. Uncle was very pleased to have learned something during this episode.
Spike Robinson and Pearse Redmond come on to talk about their podcast series Undue Influence In Popular Culture. The podcast is published through the Open Minds Foundation. The mystery of the mind and the power of imagination are treasures of the human condition. But every bright and shining treasure casts its shadow.
This month, Christian Szurko of the Dialog Centre returns, joining Jon and Pearse in this informative, witty, and often hilarious discussion. They start with the idea of how communication is used – or, rather, misused – as a means of control in recruitment and indoctrination, and the impact this has in the recovery of those leaving authoritarian relationships. They move on to explore how the misuse of communication plays out in groups such as cults and gangs, as well as in everyday relationships. They also take a hard look at how our education system can act as the foundation for this type of control, and discuss how redefining words and phrases has long been used by authoritarian groups to exert control.
In this episode, Jon Atack and Pearse Redmond speak with their good friend Yuval Laor. They start by discussing a recent article by professor Rebecca Moore entitled The Brainwashing Myth, dissecting the strange assertions Moore makes, primarily that brainwashing does not exist. They also talk about her three “scientific, neutral, and precise” terms which can replace brainwashing.
Jon and Yuval talk about the historical roots of the term from ancient China to the through reform camps of the 50’s. They also address our problems with the flawed term “new religious movement”, discussing Moore’s history defending Jim Jones and The Peoples’ Temple. They talk about her sisters, Carolyn Layton and Annie Moore, both high-ranking members who organized and oversaw the murder of over 900 people. They look at how this has colored Rebecca Moore’s books defending Jones and the legacy of the Peoples Temple. They close out by talking about the problem of arguing over semantics within the counter-cult world.
What do you think about this podcast? Do you agree? Do you have a story about brainwashing – or the misuse of the term – that you’d like to share? We’d love to hear from you!
Friend of the show, Pearse Redmond, returns for a fun and casual conversation about a myriad of conspiracy related topics. From Les Wexner and Jeffrey Epstein to Transcendental Meditation to Danny Casolaro. Listeners will be sure to enjoy this episode
In this episode, Christian Szurko of the DialogCentre UK joins hosts Pearse Redmond and Jon Atack to discuss his work counseling people who have become involved in extremist or authoritarian groups. Christian explains how he first got involved in this field of work, and they talk about how this process works from the initial first meeting all the way through to recovery. Christian and Jon both discuss the dangers of “deprograming” and the positive alternatives that are out there. They also touch on the psychological effects that leaving an extremist or authoritarian group can have on an individual.
Join hosts Pearse Redmond and Jon Atack as they discuss the concept of awe and its manipulative power with Yuval Laor. They talk about the psychological effect awe can have on an individual, and explore how this can be exploited by cult groups and toxic individuals in order to gain control. Yuval and Jon also discuss how all of us can be susceptible to the manipulation of our natural sense of awe, and the importance of cultivating healthy awe experiences in our life.
This week I am joined by Yuval Laor of the Open Minds Foundation, and one of my co-hosts for Open Minds On Air. We discuss the neoconservative movement, the exploitation of trauma, and Israel. Yuval and I start off the conversation with the breaking news that Donald Trump has decided to pull the US out the Iran Nuclear Deal. We talk about what this means for America and the prospect of war with Iran. Yuval gives us his perspective of this as an Israeli-American, and how the public within Israel is reacting to the news. Yuval and I then shift into the neocons who are obviously happy with Trump’s latest pronouncement. We look at their belief system and the psychology of the movement by using Israel as a template. Yuval talks about the continual use and exploitation of the holocaust and the trauma of it with in Israel. He discusses how this has manipulated Israeli society on a psychological level to the point where they view the Holocaust as constantly being right around the corner. We talk about the way that the Israeli state continually traumatizes its youth with regards to the Holocaust. Yuval and I then break down how this is the same method by which the neocons have sought to manipulate people here in the United States.
Later Yuval and I talk about the power of awe and fervor. Again using Israel as an example we talk about “Jerusalem Syndrome” and how it works on people who are not even religious. Yuval talks about John Kerry’s awe moment at Masada as well. We then shift into high fervor people and their inability to view the world outside of a good vs. evil black and white mentality. Yuval explains how the neocons have psychologically fallen into this mindset, and the ways in which it has effected their views on foreign policy. We also address whether neoconservationism is a cult group or a secret society. We also touch on Trump’s psychology and why he is so susceptible to manipulation, particularly by the neocons. Yuval also discusses the concept of a thought-terminating cliché. Yuval then closes out the episode with a very appropriate joke.
Porkins Policy Review 